


Hope's and Klaus' Painting Adventure

by Aeruthin



Series: Little Hope's Adventures [2]
Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Adventure, Art, Cute, Family Feels, Feels, Finger Painting, Fluff, Gen, Klaus is trying, Light Angst, Painting, and hope loves him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:08:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeruthin/pseuds/Aeruthin
Summary: Set in an AU of s4.Klaus is alone with Hope for the first time since he has been freed from the compound. But how do you entertain a seven year old child?Answer: with art of course.
Relationships: Elijah Mikaelson & Klaus Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall & Hope Mikaelson, Hayley Marshall/Elijah Mikaelson (implied), Hope Mikaelson & Klaus Mikaelson, Hope Mikaelson & Mikaelson Family
Series: Little Hope's Adventures [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017213
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	Hope's and Klaus' Painting Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt: klope 23 the things you said when we were painting together on tumblr.

“Klaus?”

Hayley enters the kitchen, arm half way up the sleeve of her jacket, car keys in her hand.

“Elijah and I are going to town for a bit, can you watch Hope?”

Klaus freezes.

_Alone?_

_With Hope?_

Panic rises in his throat, and he opens his mouth to object, but Hayley is already out of the door with a quick ‘thanks’. Soon he can hear the car engine and the tires scraping on the gravel.

Klaus stands for a moment, completely frozen.

_Now what?_

Suppressing the instinct to flee, or call Elijah and demand that they return, he makes his way to the living room.

A large sheet of paper covers the table, and Hope is busily working away with her brushes and paints, creating swirling patterns on the sheet.

“Hi Dad!” she says happily when she notices him.

Klaus swallows.

“Hi,” he rasps, flashing a smile. His heart is pounding, and for once he has no idea what to do.

How did Hayley talk to her so easily? How did she not doubt everything she said?

Hope glances at him, and then holds out a clean brush.

“Here,” she says.

Gratefully, but slightly embarrassed that his little girl is better at this than he is, Klaus takes the brush and sits down.

“Mom said we can use the whole paper,” Hope explains in a serious tone. “You can start there.”

She points at an empty spot in front of Klaus.

“Alright,” Klaus says, a small smile on his lips at her bossy tone.

He takes some blue paint, but hesitates, unsure how to start.

He glances at her. She has drawn a stick figure in red, and is now adding a big green blob.

“What are those?”

Klaus surprises himself with the question, and flinches back, afraid that he has disturbed her. But she smiles at him, and he relaxes slightly.

“This is Andrea,” Hope explains seriously. “And this is a dragon. Andrea has to defeat the dragon.”

Klaus frowns. “With her bare hands?”

Hope considers it. “She needs a sword!”

She takes some brown paint and adds a line to 'Andrea’s’ hand.

“Do you want to join too?” she asks. “Here.” She draws another stick figure. “That’s you.”

Klaus blinks, but finds his smile growing bigger.

“Alright,” he says, playing along. “So what is the quest?”

Excitedly, Hope jumps up and rushes to the other side of the table, where she draws the outline of a mountain. She thinks hard, tip of her brush poking her cheek, leaving a smear of black.

“We need to rescue a princess,” she decides.

“Like your Uncle?” Klaus grins.

Hope giggles, and Klaus leans over the table and adds a stick figure on the mountain.

“And Mom too!”

“They do so often need rescuing,” Klaus muses. “But first things first. How do we defeat the dragon?”

They continue drawing, and soon he and Hope are fully caught up in the story. More and more creatures appear on the canvas, and Andrea and Nik overcome many challenges as they make their way towards the mountain.

Klaus is so immersed in the story (-Andrea and Nik have encountered a merman monster, and need to capture a lightning bolt to defeat it-), that he doesn’t hear Hayley and Elijah returning. He only notices them in the door opening when Hope lets out a squeal.

“Mom!” she rushes towards her and hugs her.

“Hi sweetheart,” Hayley says, hugging her back. “Look what I brought.”

“Ice-cream! Can I have some? Can I?”

Hayley laughs. “First clean your hands,” she says. Hope is already half way towards the kitchen, and Hayley follows her with an exasperated but fond look.

Silence returns, and Klaus glances at Elijah, suddenly aware of the state he is in. His arms are covered in paint and there might even be some on his face as well. The living room is a mess, with brushes scattered everywhere.

Automatically, he tenses. An excuse forms on his lips, his mind scrambling for a reason, an explanation why he is having fun, why he is wasting time and being useless and pathetic and-

“Paint looks good on you, Brother,” Elijah says, piercing Klaus’ thoughts. He latches on to it, trying to focus through the panicked daze.

Elijah is leaning against the door frame, smiling affectionately.

_No anger. No disgust._

Klaus takes a deep, shaking breath.

“You should hurry cleaning up,” Elijah continues. “Otherwise there might not be any ice-cream left.”

He leaves with a look of quiet understanding, and Klaus rest his head in his hands, grateful for the quiet moment in which he can pull himself back together.

The adventures of Andrea and Nik spread out in front of him, and he breathes out.

_Gone, Mikael is gone._

Klaus stands, and joins his family outside. Hope beams up at him.

“We defeated the dragon, didn’t we Dad?” she says proudly.

Klaus smiles. “We did, Hope. We did.”


End file.
